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Greene Way Financial District
The Greene Way is the local name for Mile City, which serves as the financial district for the whole of Paradigm City. Every single dollar bill in circulation throughout the Greatest City on Earth makes its way, eventually, through the Greene Way. Though often thought of as a place to find banks, money-tendering businesses, and mega-corporations visitors of the Way are often awestruck by the city's magnificent skyline, spectacular sunsets, and amazing high-suspension bridges. As of the population census of 2012, the total population was 803,340. History Billed as the "Financial Capital of the Paradigm", numerous banking and Financial companies are headquartered or have significant production facilities in The Greene, including Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Liberty Financial, NBC, The Pandora Foundation. The city is also home to Paragon Airport. It was the location of Lockheed's Skunk Works, which produced some of the most secret and technologically advanced airplanes, including the U-2 spy planes that uncovered the Soviet Union missile components in Cuba in October 1962. The Greene Way occupies land that was originally part of two Spanish and Mexican-era colonial land grants, the 36,400-acre Rancho San Rafael, granted to Jose Maria Verdugo by the Spanish Bourbon government in 1784, and the 4,063-acre Rancho Providencia created in 1821. Historically, this area was the scene of a military skirmish which resulted in the unseating of the Spanish Governor of California, and his replacement by the Mexican leader Pio Pico. Remnants of the military battle reportedly were found many years later in the vicinity of Lake Woodsworth when residents dug up cannonballs. Dr. Miles Greene purchased over 4,600 acres of the former Verdugo holding and another 4,600 acres of the Rancho Providencia in 1867 and built a ranch house and began to sell plots of land to financial institutions scattered throughout Paradigm City, thus giving them a stable location on which to erect corporate offices. A shrewd businessman, foreseeing the value of rail transport, Greene sold Southern Pacific Railroad a right-of-way through the property for one dollar. The first train passed through The Greene Way on April 5, 1874. A boom created by a rate war between the Santa Fe and Southern Pacific brought people streaming into California shortly thereafter, and a group of speculators purchased much of Dr. Greene's land holdings in 1886 for $250,000. One account suggests that these investors were actually high ranking members of The Circle Trinity as to date while no evidence has been uncovered to confirm this theory none have surfaced to debunk it. The town's first bank was formed in 1908 when Greene State Bank opened its doors near the corner of Olive Avenue and San Fernando Blvd. On the first day, the bank collected $30,000 worth of deposits, and at the time the town had a population of 300 residents. In 1911, the bank was dissolved; it would then become the Paradigm branch of the Broker Trust & Savings Bank. The Wall Street Crash of 1929 set off a period of hardship for Greene Way where business and residential growth paused. The effects of the Depression also caused tight credit conditions and halted home building throughout the area, including the city's Lake Woodsworth development. Around this time, major employers began to cut payrolls and some plants closed their doors forever. Districts Finance Hub: More often than not, mention of the Greene Way conjures up mental images of th of Finance, the hub and heart of the city proper. The Finance Hub is where all of the Way's major financial busninesses keep their sorporate headquarters. The Hub has little to offer tourists and is geared primarily to those families employed at corprorate headquarters. Staddling the sprawl are lovely areas of parks, tract homes, and strip malls. Otherwise attractions are limited here, with minor street vendors selling food to the business men, and a few clothing stores and accessory places that have popped up and manage to live on the emergency needs of CEO's who spill coffee on themselves. The region has two very prominent locations other than the head local head quarters of a variety of companies, and those are the Paradigm Stock and Gold Exchange and the First Millennium National Bank and Treasury. These two locations are the key structures of the cities economy, and billions of dollars flow through both every day. Voie d 'artiste: Often referred to in French to give it a classier sounding name, the Artist Alley is located off of the Greene Way further into the district and is the entertainment and artistic epicenter of the region. Small apartments sit over family owned restaurants and small shops, with bistros and underground jazz cafes very common. There is the occasional arcade and movie theater as well. The major attractions of the region though are the Woodsworth Theater and the Haffington Museum and Art Gallery. The theater is a fully modern building, built with influences from both the Elizabethan and Victorian eras of architecture, and plays host to any number of stage performances, operas, orchestras, and the like every year. The Museum is a privately owned and run venture where aspiring and famous artists may come to show off their ability and sell their wears to the highest bidders, it is also the showcase of the personal collection of art and artifacts of Mr. Anthony Haffington, one of the cities more prominent and well to-do members of society. Emerald Lane: The Emerald Lane is the primary residential area of the Financial District, even though it has a population lower than either Artist Alley or Finance. This is the home of the upper-middle class and higher, with broad, paved streets lined with trees and street lights and quaint homes of brick face and dark shingled roofs. Greene Parkway shrinks down some here, turning into a basic four lane as it passes through on it's way to Lake Woodsworth, branching off into smaller roads leading to subdivisions. Emerald Lane is also the location of the regional schools and more pedestrian shopping districts, such as Wal-Mart and the Greene Mall, where disenfranchised and disinterested teenagers shop at such trendy places as Gap, Hot Topic, and Barnes and Noble. A smattering of Star Bucks compete against Mc Donald coffee, and the occasional Taco Bell rises up next to chain gas stations. The closer one gets to the lake the less of these convinces you see, and the deeper into the wealthier residences you become. Lake Woodsworth: Not truly a district but an important region all the same. Lake Woodsworth is an artificially created and stocked lake built by local philanthropist Sir Edward Woodsworth. The lake cuts the highest end region of Greene Way off from the surrounding district, and is only cross able by the Greene Way Bridge or the Millennium Ferry. Either requires a toll payment, or proof of residence across the water, effectively gating off the most wealthy in the city from the common people. The lake is otherwise dotted with small houses, fishing docks, speed boats and dinghies, and jetski rentals. Highland Estates: Highland Estates is the gated community of Paradigms wealthiest citizens. The region is comprised of large, personal estates; small private lakes; and the mansions of the incredibly wealthy. Manicured lawns and wide roads provide access around the region, though most are not allowed in. Both the ferry dock and the bridge in are guarded entrances that require proof of residency, proof of employment, or invitation to pass through. Or a high enough bribe, if one knows the right people. All in all, the most beautiful houses and lawns are here, for the pleasure of the snobby elite. Victoria Wainbridge was known to have an estate home here. Woodsworth Manor: Almost a region on it's own, Woodsworth Manor sits separated from even the other wealthy estates, situated on a hill top which is the highest point in Paradigm City short of the Crystal Tower. Built as far back as the founding of the city, the manor house is done in a style which is half Gothic Cathedral and half Baroque Fortress, giving it an over all imposing and breath taking air to it. The house has been updated many times, wings added on, and amenities updated, as only fits the home of the single wealthiest man in the city. The entirety of the estate is nearly half the size of the District itself, with the Manor being merely the front door to acres of rolling grassland, pristine forests, and small pastures of wild animals. Notable People Sir Edward Woodsworth is an English gentleman who comes form a long, aristocratic line, owning many different companies all over the world. His family had a hand in the financial founding of Paradigm city, but Edward himself had never been there until in his twenties he became infatuated with America. And since the family had this old manor house citing in one of the biggest cities, he decided to move in. Since then he has turned his considerable financial assets towards the betterment of the city, giving money to charities, schools, building up regions, and supporting the arts. He also built the lake which became named after him, originally he wanted to name it Millennium Lake. Woodsworth is a prominent figure in local government as well, though he holds no office in that government. His amount of money and clout as a Knight tends to be enough to help him sway some politics in his favor. Being THE richest person in a region tends to do that. Anothony Haffington lives in Highland Estates, which he takes great pride in. It was his initiative which fenced off the region from the riffraff after all, and put the restrictions on crossing over that keeps most of the common people out. Anthony was born in Paradigm city, his grandfather built up the estate he now lives in alone. The second wealthiest individual he is the constant rival of Edward Woodsworth, putting up competing businesses, though the other seems to not even notice. Haffington is also the head of the local District Council, and a preceding member of the city government. He is active in the arts as well, and is often found appearing to try and out do any other member of society at any time. He is well known for throwing large, and lavish balls and lesser parties at his estate. He is also known to be a member of the Masons, and it is rumored he has connections to other secret societies as well. The Broker is an enigmatic “hero” of the city, who never shows his face and talks either with voice masking, or indirectly through his lieutenants. When he calls on other heroes they are almost always brought to a location in Greene Way, which is one of the few clues to where he might actually be stationed. As mysterious and shady as he seems, Paragon himself vouches for the Broker's actions and backs him, which is usually enough for others. The Broker does not fight crime as other heroes do. Instead he funds super heroes He controls a small personal army which patrols Greene Way for criminal activity, and can be rented out to bolster the police forces of other districts within the city. He also funds, supplies, and often sets up entire super hero teams, providing bases and equipment, and access to his own personal market space. A market which side steps a lot of different laws regarding international trade and gun control policy in order to keep Heroes on the cutting edge. In emergency situations the Broker has often supplied heroes with advanced medical services, helicopter evacuations, and other such in the name of keeping the super villains at bay. Crime The Greene Way's overall crime rate fell 80% during 2010 when The Broker replaced the city's police units with Rear Guard, and the city made it through the year without any homicides, according to figures released. That contrasts with two homicides in 2008 and one in 2009. The number of violent crimes recorded by the Rear Guard in its preliminary Uniform Crime Reports was 91 during the first half of 2010, down from 1,112 in the like period a year earlier. The violent crime rate was approximately 2.34 per 1,000 people in 2009, well below the national average of 4.29 per 1,000 people as reported by the U.S. Department of Justice in the Bureau of Justice Statistics. Furthermore, The Greene Way was named again in 2015 as One of the Nation's 100 Best Communities for Young People by America's Promise Alliance. One of the most infamous crimes in the city took place in February 1981, when serial killer Martin Wood, a bank employee, was convicted of first-degree murder in the 1979 kidnapping and slaying of five teen-aged girls in a case that was the first felony trial in California to allow TV cameras into the courtroom over the objections of the defendant. As of February 2014, Wood was still on Death Row. It is a testimony to The Broker and Rear Guard that Paradigm City's most troublesome gangs, The Chromatic Dragons and Creepshow, have not been able to establish themselves in the Green Way at all. Despite the Broker's best efforts however, super-powered criminals do manage to secure themselves and come to be known as villains whom use the Greene Way as their stomping grounds. Orin Malus is the newest villain to inhabit the Way. Orin made a spectacular appearance when his ship crash landed in Darkness Falls and he promptly picked a fight with the local hero Girl Wonder. Since that ime the alien criminal has taken refuge in the Greene Way, where he broods and plots further acts of vengence against the tiny heroine. The Purse Snatchers are the most well-known crime gang within the city. True to their name they do not commit violent crimes but keep themselves to grand theft, stealing automobiles, bicycles, and other high value vehicles. They are not considered a threat to public safety, as no violent or armed crimes have been attributed to them. The gang is apparently lead by an enigmatic and Dickensian figure known as the String-Holder. Category:Paradigm City Category:Districts